There is a constant, common and critical need to communicate information of a wide range of types and for a wide range of purposes and through a wide range of media. While the types of information that are communicated, the reasons and purposes for which it is communicated, the forms in which it is communicated and the means by which it is communicated are effectively unlimited, the effectiveness of a given communication is, as is well known, fundamentally dependent on the structure and content of the communication.
For example, and briefly considering communications in general, all communications, whether comprised of text, images, video or audio data of any form or any combination thereof, generally take the form of one or more narrative nodes wherein each narrative node contains, at a minimum, a narrative content that comprises the minimum essential information that is to be conveyed by that node. The nodes are in turn arranged according to a structure, referred to as a narrative that defines the relationships between the nodes and thus arranges the narrative contents of the nodes into a coherent presentation of the content of the narrative. The information contained in a given communication is then conveyed to a recipient in a coherent meaningful form when the recipient traverses the nodes of the communication along the paths or linkages comprising and defined by the narrative.
The bare narrative structure described above is often sufficient for certain communications, specifically those communications wherein the possible range of meanings that can be attached to the narrative contents is very restricted and known to both the author and the recipient of a communication. Examples of such may include, for example, mechanistic communications such as data or control/command communications between computer systems. It is well known, however, that in general the information conveyed is significantly increased, the chances of ambiguity or misunderstanding significantly reduced and the information is made significantly more meaningful if the communication contains further information essentially defining the meaning or possible meanings of the narrative contents to the author and recipient.
Such additional information is generally referred to as contextual information and is information that is generally not strictly necessary to convey the narrative content of the communication but provides additional information that assists in understanding of the basic narrative and involves the audience more deeply into the narrative while providing a richer and more detailed narration. Suitably chosen and employed contextual information, for example, provides additional information and details to a recipient both directly and indirectly, that is, by direct narration of the information and by allusion, association and indirect reference to invoke the emotions, memories and personal knowledge and experiences of the members of the audience.
It is noted that the problems of seeking out, locating and accessing information pertinent to a work have been significantly reduced by contemporary information resources, including the internet and electronically accessible database and such facilities and tools as contemporary search engines. There remains a significant problem, however, with respect to the organization and selection of contextual information appropriate to the desired goal of enhancing a given work, which is often further compounded by the flood of contextual information that has become readily available through contemporary information search and recovery methods. That is, given the vast amounts of contextual information that may be available to an author, it is often difficult for the author to determine just what contextual information is available, the significance of the available contextual information and the relationships and degrees of relevancy between the contextual information and between the contextual and narrative information.
The present invention provides a solution to these and related problems of the prior art.